An Unsteady Future
by CaptainWolfe11
Summary: No longer a One-shot! Lucas does some thinking about Terra Nova while watching the Pheonix group march around in 2149. Why can't he stop thinking about Terra Nova? Why does the air taste so stale? Did he...miss Terra Nova? No...Terra Nova was his father's dream, not his... Bad summary, but the story is better.
1. An Unsteady Future

_**I don't know why I decided to write this, but I did. It just popped into my head, I guess. First Terra Nova fanfic, though I am no stranger to the series.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Terra Nova! If I did, I would be making a second season.**_

Smog as thick as thunderclouds poured endlessly out of the many sooty smokestacks that stood tall in the polluted air. The air (if it could even be called that) was so bad by now, that you could hardly tell the smoke from the 'air'. That was the view that met the crystal green eyes of Lucas Taylor as he stared out of the large dome he was in.

Thick swarms of soldiers walked in meticulous formation as they ran drill after drill, showing off their impressive military prowess until it became tiresome, especially to the finer thinking of a man like Dr. Taylor. Their boots thumped the ground in a frequency that could be felt throughout the complex, and the movement of the guns as they clicked in the hands of their masters produced a cacophony that made Lucas want to clap his hands over his ears. He didn't. The man just leaned against the railing, as cool as a cucumber. He didn't move, or blink. He just seemed to gaze off into the vista of pollution like it was his future he was seeing. Perhaps it was. As much as the noise annoyed him, it reassured him of his oncoming victory. His father would not be able to withstand this! Not even the great_ Commander Taylor_ could ever stop the storm coming his way. The thought sent a hollow smile sprawling across the physicist's face. In the face of that knowledge, he had been able to get used to the circus before him.

There was, however, something that did bother him about where he stood, and it wasn't something he had been able to get used to. The filtered 'clean' air inside the dome that he was breathing in tasted dry and foul. This state-of-the-art dome had the best filters in 2149, yet the air was disgustingly stale. The dome also made him feel terribly enclosed, no matter how big it was. After years of living in the wild and evading all sorts of carnivorous dinosaurs, he had learned to hate being _enclosed._ There were no escape routes. He was trapped. Actually, he wasn't, but he felt that way. Even knowing the information didn't quell his anxiety; his brain was determined to play tricks on him. His _home _was 2149, and he was back now. He should be overjoyed. He was home, he was about to crush his father, but still his heart felt _wrong._ He hated feeling _wrong_-it was something he almost never was, and he wasn't used the grip of its clammy hands. His father basically was Terra Nova, so why was it he was starting to...to miss it? He hated his father, so why didn't he hate Terra Nova? He supposed the thing he missed was the fresh air, the food you could scavenge, and the trees. He had never seen so many trees before going to Terra Nova. So, he didn't like Terra Nova per se, just things about the past.

Footsteps behind him alerted him to the approaching presence of another, probably the slick businessman he was already so sick of. They were almost ready to depart to Terra Nova. To go back through the portal. A thick wave of relief washed over him, and it was so unexpected that it elicited a slight frown from the young man. It hadn't been eagerness to destroy his father, or rush of adrenaline, but relief. From what? 2149? _Impossible..._Lucas growled in his mind, but he was more lost than angry. Lost because he had thought of 2149 as his home before coming back, and because he had felt the same relief when he had walked backwards through the fracture. Lost, because for a second, he had thought of Terra Nova as his home, and because, in that brief second, his determination had faltered. His determination hadn't faltered once in the years he had spent scrounging for food or fleeing dangers or almost dying, but it had just now. A figure stepped up next to him, and Lucas shook all of his thoughts away. He would destroy his father anyway, even if it meant destroying the place he had existed in for six long years. Why should that bother him anyway? Terra Nova...it was his father's dream, not his...2149 was his...home. At least, it should have been..._  
_

_**What do you think? Good oneshot, or mind garbage?**_


	2. An Unsteady Faith

_**TA DA! This was going to be a oneshot, but I was purrrrswaded otherwise:) This is for you, CatGirlFireflare! Also, thanks Delia Lavender for reviewing:)**_

_**Oh, and I don't own Terra Nova...**_

A tiny red bug, with wings the color of rubies and purpose as plain as the wind, crawled to the tip of a trembling blade of prehistoric grass. The urge to gather food was chief among it's needs; it would soon be producing larvae. Until then, it would need to keep up its strength to make that possible. A rumbling in the ground alerted it to danger, and it quickly flew up, only to land on something soft...

* * *

"Oh! Gross!" Cried Weaver, swatting the bug off and stamping on it with his foot. The poor bug didn't know what it had done, only that it was in danger...until it's tiny life was snuffed out suddenly. Such was the nature of human beings; to destroy nature in their ignorance and greed. Lucas pondered that for a moment, before returning to the task at hand. He walked over to shake hands with the Commander of the Pheonix group, who had started towards him from a ledge. Over that ledge was an expanse of trees. It was beautiful. Lucas forced himself to see that. A marvel of creation. Before coming here, he hand never seen trees. They were like some exotic myth. He remembered being awestruck when he first arrived here. It gave him pause to see these men continue on without giving any indication that they were seeing what he was seeing. Such men surely were not to be trusted. Still, the end justifies the means, and he needed these men to destroy his father. "So, ah, what are looking at here?" Asked Weaver, still recovering from his ordeal with a bug a thousandth of his size. "All I can see is a bunch of trees." Lucas forced himself to take a deep breath. He just kept telling himself this man was necessary. He wished that he wasn't.

"This whole valley is rich with meteoric ore." Supplied the Commander. "Impact craters everywhere. You just can't see them because of the canopy." Lucas sighed inwardly. _The ends justify the means._ He had promised these men ore in exchange for his father's demise. He just wished his father didn't have to take so much else with him. _It will just hurt him more._ A dark part of his mind spoke up. He was satisfied with that, however. _Nothing else matters, as long as I make my father hurt like I hurt every day._

"How much is out here." Lucas asked the Commander, not betraying a hint of inward strife. He was always at battle with himself, but he could never show it; Then these men would never show him the respect he _deserved._

"A couple hundred thousand tons." Came the answer. Weaver practically swooned. Lucas laughed at the man inside. He was so pathetic. All he had was greed, at least the physicist had a goal. Weaver's needs made him the tool of others. It was useful to Lucas, but that didn't make it any less deplorable.

"I told you you were going to be a rich man, Weaver." Said Lucas, milking all he could get out of this opportunity. It also amused him—seeing a man who told himself he was in charge being brought to his knees by _metal._

"My own dome. That's what I'm going to do with my share. Buy my very own dome." Lucas inwardly flinched. A dome. That was the best thing this man could think of. But then again, that was what he was going to have to do, right? Live in a dome? The 'best' air in 2149. It was disgusting compared to what he was breathing now. No more trees...no more life...He forced the thoughts out of his mind, steeling himself. It was all necessary. He couldn't doubt anymore. Once he destroyed his father, he would be able to sleep at night. He wouldn't see...her...every time he closed his eyes. He would be free. He would be miserable, but he would be less miserable then he was now.

A loud crack made his head turn to the vista. A big, beautiful brachiosaurus pulled off an entire branch with it's maw, something Lucas had to respect. He felt his lips quirk upwards slightly. He always felt a certain attachment to those creatures. They were majestic and powerful in their own way. It was another thing he liked about Terra Nova._ He really had to stop thinking of those..._He felt as if he was in place here, surrounded by power and danger. He never felt like the company he had in 2149 was worth him; they had all been terribly boring and they could never amount to anything close to what he knew he could achieve. Here, everything he touched deserved to be around him, and sometimes he had to wonder if he deserved to be around it.

"Hey, look at that thing!" Added Weaver.

"Course the only problem we have is the wildlife. We can't get started 'till we clear them out." The irony did not go unnoticed by Lucas. All this beauty, and they were going to get rid of it just to please their own dark human nature. "After what those Carnos did to the Terminus, we can't be too careful."

Weaver snatched the Commander's gun and held it up to his face, squinting through the scope. Lucas froze, his crystalline eyes trained on Weaver's form. He was going to shoot the Brachiosaurus. Everything in Lucas's body screamed at him to do something, order the man to stop, but he couldn't. He couldn't loose his authority! Instead, he steeled himself, reminding his body of his purpose. Kill. His. Father. Surely one dinosaur was worth that? The air was tinged with an excruciating silence, tense with expectation. Maybe he just wanted to look at it closely?

A single crack in the still air made Lucas close his eyes in pain. A mournfull wailing filled the air, it's tone burying deep inside the man and making him flinch. He hoped the men didn't see that. With a final, earth-trembling thud, the brachiosaurus lay dead. He opened his eyes once more, looking at the empty vista with something like grief in his heart. He could practically feel the eyes of the forest looking coldly upon him. "Ha. One less problem." Stated Weaver. It took all of Lucas's strength to stand still and not throttle the man.

"That was a brachiosaurus. They're harmless." His voice was tinged with a hint of sadness that he hoped the men didn't hear.

"Whatever." Shot back Weaver, still basking in his conquest. Lucas turned to the Commander, using his anger to harden himself.

"What's the plan." He tried to look interested, but he couldn't. _What was the plan? _He asked himself. What was worth all of this? His father? No. His pride? ...No. His sanity? Maybe. He needed this. He needed them. If a few dinosaurs had to die, then so be it.

He wasn't stupid. He knew more than a few were going to die, but as soon as his mind wandered upon that train of thought, he yanked it back harshly.

He had to kill his father. He had to save himself...

Surely one dinosaur was worth that? A part of him knew he was lying to himself, and the other ignored its counterpart fastidiously. The truth was, when that brachiosaurus had died, a part of himself had also. He just wasn't sure there would be anything left to save when this was over...and then what would this all be worth?


End file.
